CompuServe Messages

Hi Paul. If you do use typical cel animation manual techniques, moving to a computer environment is a big step. I started off by scanning my manual animations into individuals frames of a flic. Later, using a stylus and a tablet, I got the hang of drawing on the screen using the TRACE pulldown functions in AniPro. These are fully explained in the manuals. They don't give us the ability to truely onionskin (AniStudio probably will) but instead give us the silhouette of the entire previous frame. It does not do multiple frames though, only next and last (tween). Depending on the type of animation you do though (Disney charatcer, Monty Python clip art, Geometry-based Photorealistic), there are some easy tricks. For example, if you pencil the outlines of your characters, you can work your way through 256 colors (as the pencil colors) using Insert/-> to create frame by frame animations (and do the coloring later). Example: suppose I want to draw Bambi eating some food. I make the entire palette my current gradient cluster, then select the first color in the cluster as my pencil color. Now I draw the outlines of the first frame. My flic is one-frame big at this point (brand new session). Now I use Insert key (which creates a secondary frame from the first), and then use the arrow key (->) to advance me to frame two. I select the next color in the gradient as my new pencil color. I now draw the next frame with the full outline of the previous frame. When I'm finished, I use Insert/-> again to create and advance the frame. I can now see the past two outlines. I select the NEXT color in the gradient for my pencil ink and draw again. Depending on how many frames back you want to see, you can recycle these pencil colors without going through 256. The one drawback to this method is that it is sequential (you can't see "ahead") as you draw. When you've finished the outlines, go back with SEP. tool and the key color set and erase the non-top layer outlines easily, leaving only the top animation per frame. Then if you like, pass through the animation once more making the outline color the same color throughout. It is at this point that I usually convert the key color to white (like paper) and the outline color to something just above black (like 1,1,1). Now it looks like pencil on white paper. Backgrounds are a whole 'nuther story, but hopefully this gives you some insight into how AniPro's current features can be used for manual animation. -dave